Who would you rather be treated by?

Healthwatch England explored people’s views on the NHS at 80 and beyond.

In the 70th year of the NHS, Healthwatch is turning its attention to the future, asking the public some big questions about what they want health and care in England to look like.

Every year the Healthwatch network engages with around half a million people, helping them to find services and working hard to understand their experiences of care.  

Use of technology by the NHS

• Almost 4 in 5 people (78% net likely) expect that technology monitoring people’s lifestyles will be common place and will be used to inform treatment options, with a fifth (20%) stating that they think it is very likely.
• Two thirds (67% net likely) think it is likely to some extent that Artificial Intelligence will be used to diagnose conditions. Only 3% of people thought it was very unlikely.  
• Some people were more sceptical about the pace of change, with 1 in 10 (12% net unlikely) stating that they think the NHS will still be using fax in three decades’ time. 

Yet just because people think technology will be widely used, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are yet comfortable with the idea. For example, two thirds (70% net likely) think the use of robots in surgery will be commonplace but when given a simple choice:

Treatment by a human or robot?

• Two thirds (66%) said they would rather be treated by a human doctor who is more likely to make a mistake but offers compassion.
• 1 in 3 people (34%) said they would rather be treated by a robot doctor that rarely makes a mistake but lacks compassion.